Too late for this I fear…..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/04/sixth-form-education-undergo-biggest-overhaul-70-years-multi/

It’s going to take at least 5-10 years for any of the current youngsters to be in a position to seriously cover gaps left in some areas of manufacturing by foreigners leaving. What happens in the meantime ?

I look around the part of the aerospace manufacturing industry where I work and 25-30 % are foreign nationals. A lot of them are experienced graduate types. Get rid of them & we are stuffed.

You also have to factor in that outside our aircraft (engineering stuff) orientated world on this forum the general populace in the UK looks down on engineering & science so there is a lack of motivation to get into STEM for a lot of youngsters.

I say that as someone with 30 years experience of having the label “Engineer”. Something I’m proud of and enjoy (mostly) btw.

Westland Scout up for grabs. Missing tail boom.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westland-Scout-Damaged-Army-Helicopter-Project-Man-cave-/272563183477?hash=item3f76081f75:g:NLwAAOSw32lYqwzw

This is quite a good reference site for German cockpit equipment and includes in a lot of cases dimensioned drawings.

http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/instrumente/katalog/Katalogmenue/web/new%20site/frames2/KatalogMenue.htm

You need to click on the options in the box in the top left corner.

Looking to the future we had a demonstration at work of one of these 3D scanners and it was truly impressive. OOhhh!! cockpit bits was one of my first thoughts. You put the component on the table, add some reference stickers so the scanner knows where it is in relation to the part, then move the scanner around it until it is all done which takes only a few minutes. You can even scan both sides at once if you are careful and rotate the part such that the scanner can see a reference on both sides as you move from one to the other.

http://www.creaform3d.com/en/metrology-solutions/portable-3d-scanner-handyscan-3d

With a bit of tidying up of the scan on the CAD and an aluminium 3D printer you could be creating cosmetically replica parts in no time. Shame about the hideous cost to buy all the equipment. Hopefully you could probably hire them, if not now, in the future.

Whilst poking about on the internet looking for information on Bf 109g panels I came across the following link which I think will interest you all. It’s a Bf 109e panel made using cardboard. The results are quite spectacular. A nice touch at the end of the build when he takes it to the BBMF and has a photo of Paul Blackah holding it.

Enjoy.

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/aviation/33346-bf109e-instrument-panel.html

We usually go near Homebase. One FoS weekend many years ago I can out of Homebase clutching various DIY ingredients to be confronted by a South African Airways 747-400 at not much feet. Most surreal.

Just had a thought. If we leave the EU, does that mean we…..we can’t take part in the EuroVision song contest anymore ?:-(

The end of civilisation as we know it !!!